Laptop Factory Reset Query

[Prudie]

HP Pavilion, couple of years old, keeps freezing and only shutdown will correct. Win 10.
Helpdesk at PC World said 98% guaranteed solution is to restore to factory settings but let me pass you to an expert who said exactly the same thing. My main question is (apart from does this sound correct) what are the actual implications of doing this re itunes (not all of which is on a cloud) , email, accounts, files, apps and passwords etc. Will it be like a new laptop (logic would say yes) and how does one ensure getting it all back correctly?

[Guilbert53]

First before doing ANYTHING back up all your personal files that are on the PC (copy them to memory stick, external hard drive etc), plus make a note of any settings, userids and passwords.

Now on Windows 10 right click on the square "Windows" logo in the bottom left and choose Settings

On the Settings window choose Update and Security

Now from the list on the left choose Recovery

Then under the heading Reset this PC select Get started

You get two choices
1) Keep my files
2) Remove Everything

Choose Keep my Files

And carry on from there (I don't want to go any further on my PC in case it starts to do it)

This SHOULD reinstall Windows but keep all your apps and files.

However I have NEVER done this so on your own head be it !

[TheChair]

"This SHOULD reinstall Windows but keep all your apps and files."
No it won't. It will reinstall Windows and keep your DATA files.
Most of your apps (such as iTunes, Chrome, Firefox, etc) will need to be reinstalled.
Even if you choose "Keep my files" you are advised to backup everything first, and make sure you have a note of any login credentials that may need to be re-entered.

[fender62]

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT204318

[jerfrank]

Factory reset will not save your files, and if you want to save all your files, passwords and apps, you should to recovery it like Guilbert53 said.

Of course, if you have done a system restore before, and you make sure it can make your Windows 10 run smoothly, you can also do a system restore for it.

There is another way you can do is reinstall Windows 10 by a USB bootable device, when in Windows setup, you should choose the first option of:

Upgrade: Install Windows and keep files, settings and applications.

Here is the tutorial to install Windows 10:

https://www.howtogeek.com/197559/how-to-install-windows-10-on-your-pc/

And I think you mean that your Windows 10 is freeze often. So at first, you can try to clean your Windows 10 to see if it can run fast than before.

https://windows10skill.com/pc-freezes-slow-on-windows-10/

Wish it can help.